Big Doc Poker was started in October of 2005 by co founders TJ Malone and Doc Shipton. The name Big Doc Poker was coined by TJ after a long night of playing cards. Doc has always called TJ "Biggie" due to the fact he's 6'5" tall and weighs around 330 pounds. TJ, after winning a large pot, yelled out "That's how we do things at Big Doc Poker!!!" The name stuck with us ever since.
We started doing poker tournaments for a simple reason - We wanted to play by the rules. We had played in other bar tournaments and most of them either didn't know the rules or made up the rules as they went. We got tired of this and figured we could do a better job. And indeed we did!
We started out with TJ playing the tournaments, to interact with people and get their thoughts, and Doc running the show. Doc's original plan was to watch things at first, get the flaws out of the system, and then play himself. That never worked out according to plan. After just 1 month we started to average 60 people a night! After our 1st season of poker we were averaging over 80 people per tournament! The rest, as they say, is history!!!
We added our website in 2007. It started out, just like our tournaments, for a simple reason - An online news source for our poker tournaments. We started out with 6 pages. We now have over 30 pages!!! We don't do things small!!!
Currently Big Doc Poker consists of 3 people. Doc is still the main man, running the majority of the tournaments as well as running the website. Jeff Lozinski was added in 2008 to run poker at The Down Under on Tuesday nights and Jeff Hust was added to run the Sunday tournaments at Costello's.
  
Doc Shipton Jeff Lozinski Jeff Hust
Many people wonder why Doc doesn't play in his tournaments. The main reason is that it is hard for Doc to run a high quality tournament, and play his A game at poker. Doc would rather put on a well run tournament and have people coming back every week, instead of playing weekly, running a poor tournament, and not have as good of a turnout as what he brings in. Doc does play Wednesday nights at Costello's, usually with good results, as Doc set the single seaon point record with 65 points and is currently point leader for Player Of the Year.
Doc has won many bar tournaments when he does play, including 12 No Limit Hold Em Tournaments, a Limit Hold Em Tournament, and 3 Pot Limit Omaha Tournaments. Doc also holds the single season point record with 65 points in one season. Doc also holds the same record for Omaha. Doc has also won many home games and online tournaments, including No Limit Hold Em, Pot Limit Hold Em, Limit Hold Em, Pot Limit Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, and HORSE
Why Play With Us?
We run our tournaments with you, the player, in mind. We want you to have the best experience possible. Being players ourselves we feel that no one comes close to what we do. Here are a few more reasons to play with us
Blinds
We have the most player friendly blind structure of all tournaments, meaning you actually get a chance to play cards. Players in our tournaments start with a minimum of 1500 in chips, and we increase our blinds no less than every 15 minutes. Some places may start with more chips, but they also increase the blinds more often, such as 10 or 12 minutes. We've even seen places that raise their blinds every 6 minutes!!! That's ridiculous. We believe you should be allowed to play your cards, and not have your cards play you because you don't have time to play your hands
Cards
We use plastic playing cards. They last much longer than paper cards. They are also easier to shuffle. And they are waterproof. So if you spill on them its no big deal; they can be cleaned and dried in no time at all. We also use cut cards with our decks, so you can't see the bottom card in the deck
Organization
We run the most organized tournaments around. When we say our tournaments start at 7:00, we mean 7:00. Not 7:01 or 7:04 or when its we feel it's time. It's 7:00!!! We keep track of everything, thru the website and sign up sheets. Doc has every sign up sheet in his office, and they are all filed! We are that organized!!!
Final Table
We deal our final tables. That way you can concentrate on winning the tournament rather than dealing. This also eliminates errors on the players parts and allows us to keep track of how players finish
Points System
We use a point system with all of our tournaments. To earn points, all a player has to do is finish in the top 10 in any tournament. A win is worth 10 points, 2nd is worth 9 and so on, with 10th place being worth 1 point. The top point leaders from each season without a win
earn extra chips for the Tournament Of Champions
Tournament Of Champions
At the end of each season, we have a Tournament Of Champions. This tournament in open to all players, with previous winners and the wild cards starting out with more chips. This tournament is winner takes all, with the winner earning a spot in a local casino tournament with a buy in of up to $200. Players who finish in the top 10 for these tournaments also earn points for the upcoming season.
Multiple Locations
We host tournaments at 4 different locations on 6 different nights. That means regardless of when you play, you know how it will be run. Another thing we do with our tournaments is that we treat all of our locations separately. We do not combine points from one location to another or one night to another. We find this unfair as some of you are not able to come out and play every night due to work, family, and so on. Again, we run our tournaments with you in mind
Variations Of Poker
Not only do we run the best No Limit Texas Hold Em tournaments around, we also run other poker tournaments as well. We have had Pot Limit Omaha, 7 Card Stud, Razz, Lowball, Pot Limit Hold Em, and Limit Hold Em tournaments. We've also had mixed tournaments, such as Hold Em & Omaha, and HORSE. We've had many heads up tournaments, and we've even had Ladies Night tournaments. No other place has ever tried to run a non Texas Hold Em tournament, and we've done it many times!!! We have one location with nothing but games other than No Limit Hold Em!
Interaction
We interact with our players on many levels. For one, we ask our players what they think. We also do surveys from time to time. We also have forums on our website, which is the best form of interaction, since you, the player, get to interact with us and other players as well. We spend a lot of time on our forums, answering questions and asking questions, trying to do our jobs better and make your experience that much better as well
Contests & Giveaways
We have many contests on our forums, usually 1 a month. All you have to do to win a contest is be frequent contributor to the forums. Winners can receive sweat shirts, t shirts, hats, magazine subscriptions, and even poker chips!!!
We also give prizes when you reach a certain number of posts. These prizes include:
100 Posts - Big Doc Poker Hat
300 Posts - Big Doc Poker T Shirt
500 Posts - Big Doc Poker Crewneck Sweatshirt
750 Posts - Big Doc Poker Hoodie
1000 Posts - Big Doc Poker Jersey
Contacting Us
info@bigdocpoker.com - for general info please contact us here
sales@bigdocpoker.com - for advertising info or if you'd like to purchase our products. |
